Roaming traffic contributes a significant percentage of a network operator's revenue and even a better percentage of the network operator's margin. The network operator usually has multiple options of Roaming Partner Networks (RPNs) available for its inbound and outbound roaming traffic. Different outbound options may result in different revenue and margin to a home network operator, in addition to different user experience and service quality to the home network operator's outbound roamers. Likewise, different inbound options may affect revenue and margin to a visited network operator. Therefore, a network operator needs to have business insight on both its inbound and outbound roaming traffic so as to maximize its revenue and margin.
Offline Data Clearing House (DCH) approach provides business intelligence tool that enables network operators to manage their financial data related to Transferred Account Procedure (TAP) transactions between them and other network operators (e.g., RPNs). However, DCH is a non real-time approach, since it is based on TAP file exchange that may flow up to more than thirty days after call completion. Although, Near Real Time Roaming Data Exchange (NRTRDE) approach improves the delivery of inbound and outbound roaming usage traffic to less than four hours, however, it is still not completely real time. Moreover, this approach is unable to capture Signaling System #7 (SS7) intelligence of roaming environment.
Some of the existing online passive probe approaches provide real time information on roaming traffic. Many SS7 probe vendors have probes deployed at roaming links of a home network to capture all SS7 signaling messages. However, such passive probe approaches focus only on the operational aspects and protocol level details of the roaming traffic, rather than business intelligence of the roaming environment.
Furthermore, a real-time active remote probe approach uses remote mobile stations on test roamers to detect fraud and service level issues. In this approach, many vendors have test Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) dynamically distributed to the mobile stations. The remote probe approach has its intrinsic limitations in terms of footprint, available user profile and handset equipment, and fails to cover mobility-related issues. Furthermore, this approach is unable to provide information on the real roaming traffic.
Focus of one or more of the above-mentioned approaches is directed towards technical performance indicators, whether they are networks, services or usages. None of the existing approaches provides a complete picture of the network operator's roaming environment, in particular, inbound roaming since inbound roamers are controlled by the RPNs. Most network operators have recently initiated a move from this network-provider model to service provider model. It implies the monitoring needs are shifting from a pure technical and operational concern to an end-to-end service delivery control.
At the same time, the business environment has changed greatly. Technically, GSMA rules and other innovative solutions (like SoR and Camel-based solutions) have made technical environment more complex and introduced protocol interaction for delivering high-quality services. This impacts not only the network protocol handling but also the billing information transfer process. Business-wise, these roaming regulations enforced in the markets force the network operators to differentiate at quality and service level rather than just on price. This reinforces the requirement for quality delivery monitoring and also the need of fraud control and prevention of revenue leakage.
In the process to secure roaming revenues and, therefore, the availability and quality of the services offered to the inbound and outbound roamers, network operators tend to reduce their operational costs by outsourcing the network management tasks to third parties. It implies that these network operators are hardly able to understand the technical indicators to manage their roaming environment. Also, at the same time, the need to enhance service and business control becomes a key for such network operators.
In accordance with the foregoing, there is a need in the art of a system, a method, and a computer product for estimating business and technical indicators of a network operator so that the network operator can understand and control its complete roaming market distribution.